Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-14-Speech-3-178"
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"en.20040114.4.3-178"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to begin by congratulating the rapporteur, Mr Moraes, on his efforts and the good work he has done on a report on immigration, integration and employment, which I believe deserves to be viewed favourably. These are issues that provide fertile ground for personal feelings and opinions, as well as for political temptations, and for that reason I wish to refer to the content of the Communication.
The report by Mr Moraes describes situations and proposes measures which are generally acceptable in view of the situation of immigrants who are frequently disadvantaged in terms of pay, health and safety conditions at work, hours and illegal employment. In summary, often, in more cases than we would like, and we would like there to be no such cases, we are talking about exploitation.
We said that the first means of integration was employment, naturally followed by cultural integration, but we must not forget that Article 1 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights tells us that, ‘Human dignity is inviolable. It must be protected and respected’, and talks about the dignity of all human beings.
Immigration is a reality that needs to be regulated, and we must not bury our heads in the sand or look the other way. In Europe, particularly in the countries with the lowest birth rate (Spain and Italy, amongst others), immigration is a necessary remedy.
If the estimated population of the European Union of 25, as the rapporteur has said, is going to drop from 303 million to 297 million by 2020 and to continue to drop to 280 million in accordance with the estimate for 2030, the reduction in employment could have negative effects on economic growth, given that growth results from increased employment and productivity. For this very reason, immigration must not be seen as a problem, but as an opportunity.
This is of course an opportunity, however, that raises certain problems which we must resolve. Without being exhaustive, I would point out the problem of the integration of foreign children, children of immigrants, into schools; that of inter-cultural coexistence in communities and workplaces; that of family reunification, with all the problems raised by the very concept of reunification in a broad sense or in a narrow sense; of the regulation of people without documentation; the fight against illegal immigration and the mafias which exploit it; in particular, the problem of the specific situation of women immigrants.
In conclusion, immigrants are necessary, but how many can we accept? Everybody who wants to come? I think that is impossible. It would be like transferring the problems of the countries of the immigrants are trying to leave to some of the Member States.
Bearing in mind that in the countries with very low birth rates, without immigration, the ratio between active and passive workers would become unsustainable in the medium term, I believe that the best approach is to integrate them. They represent workforce, but, above all, they are human beings who the Member States need. The Tampere proposals are therefore still valid: cooperation with countries of origin, a common European asylum system, management of migratory flows, fair treatment of third-country nationals.
For those who each State can legally receive and with a view to their integration, I believe that the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights offers us the course to follow in its Articles 4, 5 and 14, or, which comes to the same thing, the prohibition of inhumane or degrading treatment; the prohibition of forced labour and the right to education.
Since we are placing considerable emphasis on the idea of employment, more specifically, Article 15 states that the third-country nationals authorised to work in the territory of the Member States have the right to the same conditions as nationals.
Article 20 lays down equality for people before the law. Article 21 prohibits all discrimination on other grounds, including on grounds of nationality; Article 23 guarantees equality between men and women in all areas, including employment, work and pay."@en1
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